THINKING BRAZILIAN FOREIGN POLICY THROUGH THE VARGAS DOCUMENT

EXPECTATIONS FOR BRAZIL-US RELATIONS IN THE COLD WAR (1951)

Abstract

This article analyses Getúlio Vargas’ foreign policy project during the first years of Cold War through the study of the so called Vargas Document. Written along with a technical commission, this memorandum draws a plan for Brazilian development and expresses demands, discontent and expectations towards the relations with the United States. Sent to Washington in mid-January 1951, the document indicates the interests to be represented by the Brazilian delegation at the IV Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (march-april 1951). Essentially prescriptive, the memorandum enables the understanding of the economic cooperation pact with the US that was proposed by Vargas’ political project when the process of consolidation of United States hegemony pushed Brazil, like other latin-american countries, towards the aim for a “possible pragmatism” in order to develop their economies. As an observatory of the political thought behind Vargas’s foreign policy, this document helps us to comprehend Vargas’ national development program, its relations with private capital and the pathways of his Government’s bargain.